5/26/24

On this day
the day after the joining
we woke married
half a century ago
We woke and packed
after our first night
in a hotel and met
with family in Ann Arbor
to move into a tiny
furnished basement apartment
in married student housing
at first filled with gas
from a blown-out pilot light
Airing, cleaning, unpacking,
old floral sheets used as
temporary curtains
beginning to make the nest
At last free from roommates
alone in our own place
No real jobs yet
but optimistic
heading into a future
not laid out, but beckoning
We are not those people
nor any of the versions we grew into
over the decades
until we grew into…us
as we are now…and…
who we are still becoming

Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2024

From my poetic journal